1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of mail boxes, more specifically to the secured and safe mail boxes and further particularly to the sanitizing mail boxes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The notion of secured mail box is the driving force for the variety of mail boxes. Taking apart the constructions in which the security locking device is used, because of their obviousness, one common approach is to use constructions applying two separate housings divided by secured moving part or space as in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 827,482; 830,231; 1,202,251; 1,432,843; 2,602,584; 3,735,919; 5,000,378; 5,148,947; 5,938,113; 6,247,642.
The use of the means resembling revolving door as security closing door is in the base of U.S. Pat. Nos. 830,231; 5,482,208; 5,938,113; 6,247,642. This usage leads to constructions providing needed security, but not always adequate. Even in the most recent U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,642 of Wilson L. the solution for outgoing mail is mentioned only as wish, rather than designed as a construction.
Although the safety of the mail from the influence of the elements should be always the center of attention, but it has not been particular matter in the prior art. Most of the inventions consider those problems solved by the virtue of the concept of closed box. Cascading water, melting snow or condensation of water vapors inside of the box can readily have some negative consequences according to different designs of above mentioned inventions as well as in most of the mail boxes recently marketed.
Whereas a lot of diseases could be spread by bacteria-contaminated surfaces including mail of any kind, non of the prior art inventions relates to sanitizing mailbox for the incoming and outgoing mail by use of any means. On the other hand there are known devices for sanitizing the air flow such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,227,446; 5,523,057; 5,558,158; 5,635,133; 5,656,242 although non of them is providing sanitizing of a surface of object, more specifically surface of mail.
A main objective of the present invention is to provide a mail box having a sanitizing capabilities, whereby eliminating or drastically decreasing the effect of possible presence of bacteria, viruses or spores on the surface of the incoming and outgoing mail.
Another objective of the present invention is to ensure security of the incoming mail until it is retrieved from the owner.
Objective of the present invention is also to prevent the mail from any influence of the elements and their side effects as water condensation on inside surfaces.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to furnish the necessary level of safety to the user accomplishing aforementioned objectives.
According to the set heretofore objectives the present inventions includes a box with two main portsxe2x80x94one mounted in the top part of the box closed with horizontally pivoted self closing gate/tray for incoming/outgoing mail and another one in the bottom part closed with secured door for mail retrieving. The top part of the box is furnished with means for generating short wave ultraviolet light (UV-light) and respectively ozone whereby both of those agents act as sanitizers over the surface and even deeper into the mail. The bottom part of the box is provided with basket allowing direct exposure of the mail to the UV-light and by convection and diffusion free exposure to the ozone generated by the UV-source. The basket is designed to assure a distance between mail dropped and all inside of the box walls. As set heretofore the box secure the incoming mail by self-closing gate pivoted horizontally and providing limited angle of rotation. The gate is hinged to the box body along the main axis of rotation. The main axis of gate rotation is coaxial to the cylindrical shaped hood covering the gate and forming a small gap around the rotated gate. This construction do not allows the mail once dropped, to be retrieved from the same port. The inside portion of the gate has a pocket for the outgoing mail shaped as hard-core book cover and providingxe2x80x9cclosedxe2x80x9d position when is empty and gradually opening upon the quantity of the outgoing mail. When the pocket is inxe2x80x9cclosedxe2x80x9d position and horizontal, the top surface of the gate/tray is flat. This position of the gate/tray is consideredxe2x80x9copen boxxe2x80x9d position and the gate/tray is ready to be used as ingoing mail support. When moving the gate to vertical position, the mail slides from the surface of the gate/tray into grid or net type structure of the basket. The basket is design the way to provide a distinct distance from the bottom surface of the box and to assure air gap wrapping the entire pail of mail.
Further in accordance with the set objectives, inside the box there is a source of UV-light with wave length approximately 254 nanometers. The light source could be rechargeable battery supplied, or permanently wired to AC source through safety electric supplier. The light is directed onto the surface of the dropped mail which provides direct extinction of the surface bacteria, viruses and spores. The UV-light also produces ozone known as very strong disinfector over a certain concentration and which concentration can be easily achieved in the confined space of the box. The generated ozone diffuses into the air surrounding the mail destroying mentioned biological hazard. The coefficient of diffusion of the ozone is high enough to allow penetration even through paper material and to act as a disinfector even inside the enveloped mail. The heat generated from the UV-lamp prevents water from condensation when the incoming mail is colder than air in the boxed space until the temperature of the air and the mail equilibrates. The working time of UV-lamp can be regulated by different means such as preset time relay, preset electromechanical clock mechanism or similar. Those means are activated by contact switch when the mail is dropped into the box and the gate/tray get fixed in xe2x80x9cclosed boxxe2x80x9d position. The space between the bottom of the box and the mail over the grid or net, prevents the mail from eventual contact with any water collected on the bottom by previous condensation or blown by the wind as snow or rain. The bottom surface of the box is slightly sloped to one end where eventually collected water could be drained by small opening, closed most of the time with appropriate means.